English to Metric Conversions - Unit Cancelling Method

Cuban Missle Crisis and the Realist Perspective Essay

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 brought the world closer than it had ever been to nuclear war. This makes the crisis one of the most essential events in international affairs history, demonstrating a great example of the realist perspectives and other important aspects of international relations. Primarily, the origins of the Cuban Missile Crisis can be readily attributed to the realist perspective. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy launched the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba, which was a thwarted attempt by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with assistance from United States armed forces, to oust the corrupt government of Fidel Castro. This failed operation had sent the US back into a defensive position.†¦show more content†¦This ambiguity led to the United States’ surveillance efforts of sending U-2 unmanned aerial vehicles over Cuba in order to investigate the construction of the missiles, which, with time, led to the mobilization of the military to the level of DEFCON 2. Kennedy expressed his discomfort in his November 6 letter to Khrushchev stating, â€Å"Not only did this action threaten the safety of this hemisphere, but it was, in a broader sense, a dangerous attempt to change the world-wide status quo. Secret action of this kind seems to me both hazardous and unjustified†¦ Your government repeatedly gave us assurance of what it was not doing; these assurances were announced as coming from the highest levels, and they proved inaccurate (Kennedy, 3).† The realist perspective not only played a role militarily, as previously shown, but also diplomatically. In Kennedy’s meeting with the Executive Committee of the National Security Council they discussed what measures to take after having confirmed surveillance photos of missile sites being constructed in Cuba. As a result, the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided a full-scale invasion would be the only remedy. This opinion was promptly rebutted by Kennedy saying, â€Å"They, no more than we, can let these things go by without doing something. They cant, after all their statements, permit us to take out their missiles, kill a lot of Russians, and then do nothing. If they dont take action

Drug Testing Welfare Applicants Free Essays

As of 2011 there are 4. 3 million Americans on welfare and using 131 billion dollars that come from the tax payers. Welfare has been a hot issue in the United States for a while and a common debate is whether citizens that qualify for welfare should be drug tested or not. We will write a custom essay sample on Drug Testing Welfare Applicants or any similar topic only for you Order Now Most Americans agree that some sort of support system for citizens that are struggling financially is a good idea and can help some get back on their feet. Others will argue that many people on welfare abuse their privileges to fund their substance abuse and misuse the taxpayer’s money. My own view is that people should have to pass a drug test in order to receive these government handouts and prevent habitual users from abusing these privileges. Welfare is a federally funded program that gives monetary assistance to citizens who have little to no income. The United States welfare system began back in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, era due to an overwhelming amount of families that were struggling to get by. Still today there are millions of people barely making by during these tough economic times. Citizens can apply for different types of welfare including social welfare, corporate welfare, child welfare to name some of the most popular. On these types of welfare people can receive different types of aid such as health care, food stamps or child care. There are many factors go into a person’s eligibility for a welfare program. Eligibility is determined by using gross and net income, size of the family, and certain situations such as medical emergencies, pregnancy, homelessness or unemployment. After the initial application a case worker will gather all this information and determine if the person qualifies for any benefits and how much he or she can receive. A person can also apply for a state run welfare program called the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF. TANF, however, is different than most and requires that the applicant find work within two years of receiving aid. Not finding work will result in a loss of these benefits. A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen such as urine, hair, blood or saliva, to determine the presence or absence of specified drugs in a person’s system. A urine drug test, which is the most common in the United States, screens for ten types of drugs: Amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids (THC), cocaine, methadone, methaqualone, opiates, phencyclidine, and propoxyphene. All of these drugs have various detection periods in the human body but the average is two to ten days. Within this window of time. Studies have shown that the prevalence of substance abuse among welfare recipients has varied widely in their findings, with rates of between 10 and 37 percent. Much of the difference in rates found in these studies is due to different data sources, definitions, and measurement methods and the different thresholds used to define substance abuse. Another difference is whether alcohol abuse and/or the abuse of prescription drugs are included in the estimate. Also how can we get true evidence when we don’t have the means to drug test these welfare recipients yet. Employers require drug testing before employment so why should welfare recipients get the same treatment for the gift of receiving government funding. Its tax dollars of the working people funding someone else’s addictions. Drug use and use and its consequences affect all of society that is vital to a strong America. Drug use strains our healthcare, criminal justice systems and endangers the future of our young people with the overall strain on our economy. Florida recently became the first state to require adults applying for cash welfare assistance (i. e. , not food stamps and housing assistance) to undergo drug screenings. Florida Gov. Rick Scott defended the new rule by arguing that: â€Å"It’s not right for taxpayer money to be paying for somebody’s drug addiction. †¦ On top of that, this is going to increase personal responsibility and personal accountability. We shouldn’t be subsidizing people’s addiction. † In 2009, 20 states put in proposals to pass the drug test laws and at least 36 states put proposals in 2011 around drug testing of welfare (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families – TANF) and food stamp (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP) recipients. When Florida passed the law of requiring drug tests to receive welfare it set a precedent for other states to follow. Florida government believed that by passing this law itwould deter people from misusing welfare benefits to buy drugs. Florida expects the recipients to pay for the drug test and the government will reimburse the recipient the cost of the drug test. Arizona and Missouri require testing for anyone they â€Å"reasonably† suspect of illegal drug use. As of April17, 2010 Utah and Georgia also passed legislation for drug testing. How to cite Drug Testing Welfare Applicants, Papers

Preliminary Going Concern Assessment †Free Samples For Student

Question: Discuss About the Preliminary Going Concern Assessment? Answer: Introduction This assignment has been executed on the topic Strategic Business Risk Assessment, Inherent Risk Assessment and Preliminary Going Concern Assessment in which discussion will be made regarding the factors which have resulted in the rise in the Inherent Risk Assessment at Financial Report Level and the different inherent risk factors. Risk assessment is an important aspect which directly creates the impact on the performance of the business. A case study of One.Tel has been provided which was founded in Sydney, Australia in the year 1995. One.Tel is a global telecommunications company which is providing different services including low-cost international and national calls, prepaid and post-paid calling cards with GSM mobile phone services and internet services. 1. List and discuss several factors that would have contributed to an increased inherent risk assessment at the financial report level. Also, identify which of these factors may be identified during the strategic business risk assessment. There are several factors which have contributed towards the rise in the inherent risk assessment at the financial level for One.Tel. These factors are mentioned below: The absence of managerial skills: due to the lack of effective managerial skills, development process of the structure of the company has got affected along with the competitiveness of the company. This has increased the chances of material misstatement of the financial statements of One.Tel (Benson, et. al., 2016). Low operational profits: there is a rise in the debtors of One.Tel by 203 % in the consolidated results and in respective of this, there has been a very slow rise in the sales of the year 1998-1999. One.Tel is ineffective in enhancing the turnover and increases the profits in spite of having a large customer base (Cruz, et. al., 2015). Table 1 has attached below which shows the figures for the analysis of the key performance indicators. Table 1: Key Performance Indicators of One.Tel Parent Entity Consolidated Key Performance Indicators 2000 $M 1999 $M Change $M % Change 2000 $M 1999 $M Change $M % Change Receivables - Current Assets 104.0 58.9 45.1 77% 218.4 72.0 146.4 203% Sales Revenue 359.1 269.2 89.9 33% 653.4 326.0 327.4 100% Operating profit/(loss) after income tax (78.2) 7.9 (291.1) 7.0 Net Margin to Sales Ratio (%) -21.8% 2.9% -44.6% 2.1% Total Operating Cash flows (40.5) (0.9) (39.6) (168.9) (28.9) (140.0) Cash at the end of the year 164.2 170.8 (6.6) 335.7 172.6 163.1 Debtor Days (Days) 106 80 122 81 Lack of effective customer policies: it has been analysed from the above-attached tables that credit policies of the company are not effective which has been depicted from the higher receivables of One.Tel. Trade receivables in the consolidated and parent entity have increased twice in comparison to the revenue (Dash Mahakud, 2012). Hostile pricing policies adopted by the company in the competitive business environment: One.Tel had adopted a low priced strategy for pricing its products due to which it has developed large customer base but this has affected the revenue of the company due to the slow rise in the revenue (James, et. al., 2014). Lack of effective reporting in financial statements: the company must ensure that the financial statements must be presented in a fair and true manner. It has been identified that the financial statements of the company may be presented in an unfair manner. The worsening liquidity has raised a concern on the financial statements of the company (Kepper, et. al., 2014). There has been a rise in the intangibles of the company and scrutiny must be done of that. The deficit of operational funds: From the analysis of the cash flows of the company, it can be analysed that company has suffered cash losses from its operating activities. The cash losses have increased from $28.9 Million to $168.9 Million. Factors which can be identified during the strategic risk assessment are stated below: Credit policies for customers: increasing receivables shows that company has not collected cash from the debtors which have created the impact on the liquidity of the company (Kokolakis, et. al., 2010). Setting low prices for the products: One.Tel has set low prices which have affected the profitability of the company. Lack of effective company structure: lack of effective managerial skills has affected the structure of the company (Labbi, 2014). 2. List and discuss several inherent risk factors that would have contributed to an increased inherent risk assessment at the account balance level. There are different inherent risk factors which have resulted in the increase in the inherent risk assessment at the account balance level. These inherent risk factors must be dealt in an effective manner so as to ensure that the performance of the business is not getting affected due to these risk factors. Identification of these inherent risk factors must be done in an effective manner so as to eliminate the impact of these risks on the business and on its profitability and growth. One.Tel has adopted a low pricing strategy according to which it has set the prices of its products low. This has affected the profitability of the business at large. Prices of the products must be kept after proper analysis of the costs and profit margin of the company (Moss, et. al., 2010). This will ensure that the profits of the business are not getting affected. Another factor which has acted as an inherent risk factor is the lack of effective managerial skills which are responsible for the ineffect ive structure of the company. One.Tel has started its operation in 1995 and due to this short span of time; it doesn't have effective managerial skills for the management of the operations of the company. One.Tel has adopted poor credit policy due to which inherent risks have increased. One.Tel has also suffered cash losses from its operating activities. There has been the rise in the sales of the company but this sales growth has not contributed towards the increase in the profitability of the company. It has also faced ineffectiveness in the preparation or reporting of the financial statements of the company (Martin, et. al., 2013). All these inherent risk factors have increased the risk of the company. There is a need to adopt effective credit policy which will help in enhancing the satisfaction level of the customers. Effective pricing policy must be adopted so as to ensure that One.Tel is generating high profits as well as maintaining the large customer base. Managerial skills must be developed for the purpose of ensuring that the company is performing well and structure of the company is maintained. For gaining the competitive advantage there is a need to enhance the managerial skills and enhancing the profitability of the business. Pricing policy must be adopted in an effective manner for the Land-based phone lines, Internet services and Mobile telephony services. 3. Do you believe that the area of going concern should be assessed as high, medium or low? Identify the factors that are the basis for your decision. A company must maintain its accounts in a fair manner so as to present a true and fair picture of the company. After analysis of the financial performance of One.Tel, it can be stated that the assessment of the area of going concern must be done at the high level. The reasons or the factors responsible for this decision are mentioned below: The company has generated cash losses from its operating activities which show that the intangibles of the company have increased at large which creates suspicion. One.Tel has purchased plant and equipment which have affected the liquidity position of the company at large (Nwogugu, 2012). The decrease in profits and increase in cost: Sales of the company have increased but this has not contributed at large to the profits or revenues of One.Tel due to the low prices of the products. This has resulted in the rise in the cost of the company. It is tough to analyse whether the company can earn high profits and recover losses after the rise in the sales (Ruhnke Schmidt, 2014). The liquidity of the company is depleting as there is a rise in the receivables of the company which shows that company is not capable of recovering the cash from its debtors. Management of One.Tel must take steps for resolving this issue and till that issue is not resolved assessment must be done at high priority (Telfer, et. al., 2010). Conclusion From the execution of this assignment, it can be concluded that risk associated with the business must be analysed so as to enhance the performance of the business. This assignment has discussed different factors which are responsible for the increase in the inherent risk and these factors include lack of effective customer policies, hostile pricing policies adopted by the company in the competitive business environment, lack of effective reporting in financial statements and deficit of operational funds. The discussion has been made regarding the factors which are responsible for the manner in which assessment needs to be done of the area of going concern. References Benson, O., Gibson, S., Boden, Z., Owen, G., 2016, Exhausted without trust and inherent worth: A model of the suicide process based on experiential accounts, Social Science Medicine, 163, 126. Cruz, M., Peters, G., Shevchenko, P., 2015, "Fundamental aspects of operational risk and insurance analytics a handbook of operational risk (Wiley Handbooks in Financial Engineering and Econometrics)", Hoboken: Wiley. Dash, S. R. Mahakud., J., 2012, Investor sentiment, risk factors and stock return: Evidence from Indian non-financial companies, Journal of Indian Business Research, 4(3), 194-218. James, L., Kelly, P., Beckman, V., 2014, Injury Risk Management Plan for Volleyball Athletes, Sports Medicine, 44(9), 1185-1195. Kepper, A., Eijnden, R., Monshouwer, K., Vollebergh, W., 2014, Understanding the elevated risk of substance use by adolescents in special education and residential youth care: The role of individual, family and peer factors, European Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 23(6), 461-472. Kokolakis, Artemi, Smith, Carolynn L., Evans, Christopher S., 2010, Aerial alarm calling by male fowl (Gallus gallus) reveals subtle new mechanisms of risk management, Animal Behaviour, 79(6), 1373. Labbi, A., 2014, Handbook of Integrated Risk Management for E-Business Measuring, Modeling, and Managing Risk, Boca Raton: J. Ross Publishing, Incorporated. Martin, P., Wagenmakers, E., Tremblay, P., Ramsay, R., Kralovec, K., Fartacek, C. Fartacek, R., 2013, Suicide Risk and Sexual Orientation: A Critical Review, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42(5), 715-727. Moss, Edmonds, Hibbard, Manning, Rose, Van Vuuren Wilbanks., 2010, The next generation of scenarios for climate change research and assessment, Nature, 463(7282), 747-56. Nwogugu, M., 2012, Risk in the Global Real Estate Market International Risk Regulation, Mechanism Design, Foreclosures, Title Systems and REITs (Wiley Finance), New York: Wiley. Ruhnke, K., Schmidt, M., 2014, Misstatements in financial statements: The relationship between inherent and control risk factors and audit adjustments, 33(4), 247-269. Telfer, S., Lambin, X., Birtles, R., Beldomenico, P., Burthe, S., Paterson, S. Begon, M., 2010, Species Interactions in a Parasite Community Drive Infection Risk in a Wildlife Population, Science, 330(6001), 243-246.